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South Kingstown committee hears evidence for later high‑school start times
Summary
A visiting Brown University clinician summarized research tying later secondary‑school start times to more sleep, better mental health and fewer crashes; committee members pressed for stakeholder engagement and transportation planning before any schedule changes.
At a South Kingstown School Committee meeting, members heard an informational presentation on shifting secondary‑school start times to better match adolescent sleep biology.
Dr. Megan Douglas, a retired clinical assistant professor at Brown Medicine who served on the Barrington School Committee during that district’s start‑time change, told the committee that adolescents biologically need roughly nine to nine and a half hours of sleep and that most do not get that amount. "The ideal amount of sleep for a teenager is 9 to 9 and a half hours," Douglas said, and she cited evidence that later start times increase total sleep and improve daytime alertness, academic engagement and mental‑health metrics.
Because the issue affects bus schedules, after‑school activities and child care, committee members repeatedly emphasized the need for a broad planning process and…
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